A Forest of Stars
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: The verdani had only narrowly escaped extinction at the hands of the hydrogues and faeros. Likewise, the metarex were all that remained of the civilization of Green Gate. Surely, Dark Oak reflected, he could count on the verdani as allies.


**A Forest of Stars**

The device was called a psi-link, and was based on the translator technology that every metarex was equipped with. A means of being able to communicate with their foes, and for their foes to understand the name of their doom. Little came out of the mouths of animals that Dark Oak cared to hear. Even their screams rang hollow after a time. Still, translator technology had its uses. As did the psi-link, as he walked through the forests of Theroc. The last enclave of the verdani. A sapient, flora-based species, not unlike the seedrians. A species that he hoped to talk with.

 _You are not of this world._

And at last, they made contact. The verdani. The Worldforest. The survivors of the Elemental War, forced into hiding by the hydrogues and faeros. Alien races that Dark Oak had no intention of facing. Only the verdani interested him. Only the verdani could be counted as allies.

 _I am not of this world, but I am kin,_ he thought, the psi-link doing its work (hopefully).

 _Only the first we know to be true,_ came the whispers of the trees. _What are you now but a machine?_

 _A mere vessel, for now._

 _And how many more vessels are there above this world?_

So they had noticed, he reflected. Noticed, and remained defiant. Most animals would have shaken in terror if confronted with a metarex battlefleet.

But then, the verdani were not animals. The verdani could be counted on. And so he willed his words into thoughts, and spoke.

 _Enough vessels to ensure the proliferation of plant-based lifeforms throughout the galaxy,_ he said, even as his voice lay silent. _Enough to show you our strength, so that you may join us._

 _And why should we give you our aid?_ There was silence, followed by a thought that was but a whisper. _You know of our enemies. You know that we barely survived, and that the wentals didn't. You would risk our exposure to the universe?_

 _You would risk nothing._ If he had a mouth, Dark Oak would have frowned – he wasn't interested in the elemental races of the galaxy, he was interested in far more primitive, belligerent lifeforms. _The hydrogues have the gas giants, the faeros the stars. They care nothing for worlds like Theroc. If, fate willing, we achieve our goal of galactic forestation, your old enemies would barely notice._

 _Perhaps. And yet your plan…_

Dark Oak remained still. He watched the trees remain still, their branches shaking in the breeze. He watched a giant insect creature fly through the forest. Buzzing, swooping, looking for prey. Not unlike a Broadsword-class fighter, he thought. He remembered the war machines that had been used by Cascade. Given time, the metarex would find their homeworld, and take more than their planet egg.

 _Your plan is monstrous._

With a roar, Dark Oak drew out his sword. The weapon by which he had cleaved his foes, the weapon by which, at his order, entire worlds had burnt. He swung it at one of the trees…yet the blade did not make contact. He couldn't risk it, he told himself. The verdani had been defeated once, that didn't mean they weren't without power, especially with one such as himself. And they were allies, were they not? They had to be.

 _You see inside my mind,_ he thought, sheathing his blade. _Look back, to when I was a creature of branch and leaf. You can see why I seek peace for the galaxy._

 _Peace?_ He could have sworn he heard the verdani laughing. _We are at peace. You are not._

 _I'm not at peace because I seek to bring it._

 _No._ A breeze began to blow, and Dark Oak noticed that the trees seemed to be moving far more than they should. _You seek to bring fire, to inflict vengeance for a dead world. That is not peace._

"I didn't destroy my world!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the forest. Just as his voice had echoed through space and time. As always, the lie was loud, and heard long after the words were uttered.

 _Your thoughts betray you,_ came the thoughts of the Worldforest. _Your lie is revealed._

 _A lie?_ he sneered. _My own kind betrayed me, and you speak of lies? You think me a monster, when the true monsters of the galaxy are all around you? You call yourselves the Worldforest, when you're confined to this piece of rock?_

 _We are alive and at peace,_ the verdani said. _That is all we desire._ The trees moved once more, even as no wind blew. _We desire nothing of you, or your plan. We only ask that you remove yourself from our world, and your fleet from our skies._

Dark Oak drew out his sword once more. Slowly, this time, as if faced by a beast of carrion. By an _animal_. He dared wonder how many trees he could fell before they crushed him, if it came to it. Wondered, and while he did so, let out more thought.

 _I could force it,_ he said. _I could order the fleet to bombard this world. I could steal your planet egg, and make my job that much easier._

 _You can try,_ said the verdani. _But you won't._

 _Why?_

 _Because your fellows only follow you because of your creed. Because you fear our strength. Because Lucas's principles wouldn't allow it._

"Lucas." The word rolled over him like the fire that had consumed Green Gate. He'd forgotten that name. He didn't use it, even among his fellow commanders. Lucas had died on Green Gate. Lucas had died a fool, daring to think that the seedrians would be willing to save their species, and not go quietly into the night. Lucas couldn't save the galaxy. Only Dark Oak could. And evidently, the verdani could not.

 _I shall depart,_ Dark Oak said. _You will keep your planet egg. But if I may ask, watch the stars. Watch and see my work succeed, and remember this moment. Remember it, and remember that I was right._

 _We shall remember,_ said the verdani.

That was all they said. Silently, Dark Oak took to the skies. His metallic body could easily make escape velocity, and would protect him from the vacuum of space. He'd arrive on-board his flagship, and set a course for Ilaros. Within the time period it took him to get there, his commanders would know that the verdani had rejected his offer. And in a time period much shorter than that, the world's planet egg would be his, and its people either extinct, or on their way to oblivion regardless.

 _Let the verdani rot,_ he thought to himself, as he escaped the planet's atmosphere, as he saw Theroc's sun shining a whole six light minutes away. He wondered if the faeros had claimed it as their own, and if not, if they ever would. _Let all of you rot._

The elementals would hide, even as the galaxy changed. And then…

Well, then the galaxy would be at peace.

That was all that mattered.


End file.
